Suggestions to improve the Water Magic discipline

[SelfishGene]

I agree with those whom feel water magic is lacking - partly i believe because so much of that branch of magic is duplicated elsewhere and feels redundant, and spells and rituals unique to its branch are rarer, more situational, and weaker than the other branches. On the whole of course.

Another problem with water magic is how it is so uniformly spread throughout most the research trees. Most of the other disciplines have a majority in a couple of trees; Astral and Death in Thaumaturgy, Nature in Enchantment, Fire in Evocation, Earth in Construction, ect.

So what im suggesting are not changes to existing spells but actually NEW spells and rituals be added to Water, hopefully making it better rounded and more more attractive.

Of course as with every suggestion any, none, some, or all of them can be included or changed at the designers' discretion

And please post any other suggestions or changes you would like to see if you agree that water needs improving!

Rituals

Confused Migration
Animals which normally migrate during winter months become confused and lost and cannot find their way; ducks and geese fly in cirles and deer become trapped by the ice. Hunters rejoice in their fortune.
+ 1 Growth Scale in cold provinces?

Avalanche
An avalance occurs on snow-capped mountains, destroying any temples or labs in the province in which this event occurs. Incidental damage and some casualties to townspeople.

Chthonic Wolves
Sacred Wolves of the End of Days called upon to devour the heros of humanity, these giant sized monsters radiate fear and command the respect of mortal wolves whom will follow them as if a god.

Closed Passes
Sudden blizzard accumulates so much snow that all passes are choked with ice, preventing any troops from entering or leaving the targeted province. (Might be good for mountain only). Duration depends on gems used. (maybe 10/turn or something).

Rimtustar
Awaken giant ***-kicking, nation stomping, big guy with a heart of gold. He can't help pounding the world to dust, its his job!

Lyncanthropy
Curses several units with the ability to change into werewolves if wounded (might be high level combat spell, small aoe). AAAAHHOOOO

Permafrost
Causes snowfall in lands with cold scales to freeze into solid ice, reducing the effects of difficult terrain. Movement costs only 1 point in cold provinces.

Items

Sable Coat
Beautiful and valuable coat grants cold resist and +aura.

The Icicle of Red Ryder
Enchanted Icicle that never melts gives off an cooling aura that reduces the temperature in the province it resides within. Might cause bearer to go blind in one eye, watch out!

Ok enough of that. Any better ideas?

[ April 17, 2004, 06:08: Message edited by: SelfishGene ]

[HotNifeThruButr]

Water magic only benefits water races too often, so what about a spell to nail them in the ocean?

Raging Tides 7-8 water circles required, lots of water gems too, say 80: The seas of the world are stirred into a frenzy, a number of aquatic units, 20-40 in each province, become displaced and move 1 province in a random direction. If they're unable to breathe air and happen to get washed ashore, they die.

Icicle Shards 1 water circle required, no gems: it's like Flying Shards, but you have twice the projectiles at half power.

Edit: isn't there already a Rimtursur spell? Illwinter?

[ April 17, 2004, 06:47: Message edited by: HotNifeThruButr ]

[Saxon]

Nice ideas!

How about some more weather spells, perhaps linked to nature magic as well.

Driving Rain

Powerful rain lashes from the sky, flooding fields and knocking down crops. 50% gold income and supply reduction in targeted province this turn.

Gentle Rain

Kind and blessing rain caresses the land, giving substantial help to crops in your dominion. 25% gold and supply increase in all provinces with your dominion.

Mud Patches (combat)

The mage brings forth small springs from the ground, creating patches of mud which greatly slow movement. All troops entering these square lose any remaining movement this turn. Each point of magic produces one square of mud.

The Last one is aimed at those low level water mages who cast quickness and can then do nothing in battle. A little bit of mud will not change things too much, but will slow troop advances and flight. A low level mage can not do too much with this, but a high level one would mess up a field quickly.

[Teraswaerto]

No Rimmetursar awaken no matter how long Illwinter is active. It's just flavour text.

I think Water Elementals should have innate quickness and/or more defense. They are clearly the weakest elemental ATM.

[Teraswaerto]

DP

[ April 17, 2004, 08:00: Message edited by: Teraswaerto ]

[Gateway103]

Some ideas,

Water Shield (combat spell, improved Version)
- Protect target from fire (50%), as well as 20% of all attacks will miss (imagine a cyclonic barrier of water with high pressure, capable of deflecting incoming attacks. Less effective in hot dominion 2+ (say -5% per heat scale >= 2)
- If used in cold 2+ dominion, result is an Ice Shield that protects from fire (50%), and increase Armour Protection by (4 + cold scale)

Ice Wall (ritual)
- Increase defense of fortress wall by 25 per level of cold scale, starting with cold -3, up to maximum value of fortress (so maximum of 175 in cold 3 dominion). May be casted remotely from different province

Drowning Bubbles (combat spell)
- Single target, target must make MR save or loses 15hp. Receive 2pt damage if successfully resisted. Useless on amphibians, aquatic, or undead. Can't be casted underwater.

Hail (combat spell)
- BLast a medium sized area with falling icicles. Damage is considered magical and armour piercing.

Summon Geckos (ritual)
- Summon giant size 4 Geckos with recuperation, regeneration, poison attack, poison immunity, high natural protection but low defense skills.
- Summon amount is 4+

Healing Fluid (combat spell)
- Heals 6~10+ points, plus curing poison & paralysis.

Healing Shower (combat spell)
- Heals 6~10+ points on an area of 3+, plus curing poison& paralysis.

Cleansing (ritual)
- Each casting has a 10% chance of curing the Diseased affliction, from each afflicted creature in the province. It also heals 20% base hp of every creature in the province if they are not at full health (e.g. still diseased units)

Waterway (ritual)
- Allows mages and her troops to travel from one coastal province to another. Cannot be casted in inland provinces

That's it for now. Hope you guys like these ideas.

-Gateway103

[ April 17, 2004, 18:40: Message edited by: Gateway103 ]

[Yossar]

Originally posted by Gateway103:
Water Shield (combat spell)

Except that there's already a spell called that.

[rabelais]

(cribbed from an earlier post of mine)

Water mages can take 1 troop with them for every magic level they have minus one.

(i.e. the first level sustains the mage itself.)

Items, thetis' blessing and the water cult theme are the traditional methods for keeping your favored landlubbers breathing.

IMHO the number of troops should be increased quite a bit. The water fringe benefit is weak, relative to the other paths. Even x5 or x10 wouldn't be outlandish.

Alternatively (or in addition) it could add to defense, as fire/air add to att/prec.


SCUBA Rabe

[JaydedOne]

Originally posted by rabelais:
(cribbed from an earlier post of mine)

Water mages can take 1 troop with them for every magic level they have minus one.

(i.e. the first level sustains the mage itself.)

Items, thetis' blessing and the water cult theme are the traditional methods for keeping your favored landlubbers breathing.

IMHO the number of troops should be increased quite a bit. The water fringe benefit is weak, relative to the other paths. Even x5 or x10 wouldn't be outlandish.

Alternatively (or in addition) it could add to defense, as fire/air add to att/prec.


SCUBA Rabe

I agree with these suggestions personally. I could see a x5 bonus, but not a x10 as that'd negate a bit too much of the advantage water races get by being water races.

The add to defense would work in the alternative, as it seems that Water's the only one of the four elemental magics that doesn't get a boost that way.

[LintMan]

I noticed that Voice of Apsu and Voice of Tiamat for some reason cannot be cast on water provinces from land (I don't know if you have to be in the water province of just underwater).

But in any case, all the other magic path's search spells work fine in water provinces remotely from land, so I'm puzzled why, - especially - water sites cannot be searched remotely in water provinces when all other paths can. Maybe for VoT, that might be reasonable since its special and covers a few magic types, but this seems an unfair penalty of VoA.

For new spells, it'd be nice if water had maybe 1-2 other useful summons, perhaps ones that weren't cold-based or water only, so that they'd be more generally useful. Maybe a big mid to high level amphibious sea creature that could be summoned on land, or something like (amphibious) water nymphs.